THE Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1919. THE INDUSTRIAL QUESTION.

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XVII, Issue 5647, 20 June 1919, Page 2

THE Daily Telegraph WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WAIHI MINER

FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1919. THE INDUSTRIAL QUESTION.

Here shall the PresiH tho People's Right maintain, (Jnawed by influence and unbribed by gain. Here Patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw, Pledged to RnliKion Libertv and Law.

I New Zealand ia happily one of the few countries which have not been visited l>>' industrial revolution as a. result of the. war. Few other parts of the world have escaped the turmoil. Jlritain hits not been exempt, but as the revolution there has been conduced en sane lines not so much has been beard of it, and considerable gains have been made by the workers w'Hh argument and reason as their only weapons. Papers by the mail show that in negotiations with the Government, which weu» concluded in a few weeks, the workers w? two of the most oxtensive industries of tbfi country gained concessions which, but for jljup war, would have taken them over twtn(t.y years to achieves. The concessions includii (substantial reductions in working hours, •ind substantial increases in wages—increases which, together with increases wanted during the wnr, amount n the pgjreg»to to over » bu»4r«d of »»',l ( wh

|of pounds yearly. What is remarkable is that these latest concessions which have been added to concessions made during the war, hare been granted, not during a period of industrial prosperity, but during a period of stagnation, wlrie tho industries of the country are en- ! deavouring to bridge the commercial' gulf that separates war from peace. ' These millions of pounds have been added to the wages of the workers at a time when the finances of the couutiy are in a position of great gravity. I The war, combined with the heavy in- { crease in the cost of living which war conditions brought about, is the of the great concessions in industrial conditions which have been granted to

the workers of Great Britain. In Itussia, and in a less degreoin Germany and Ctntrajl Europe, the revolt of the working classes against their social and industrial conditions has become a nnd war of class extermination, in which

industry and civilisation are being destroyed. In Britain the workers were also in revolt n.ga':nst their social and industrial conditions, but therr revolt was conducted on peaceful lines, and E<et with a remarkable degree of success There is no likelihood of Bolshevism making any real progress in Great Britain, and the hopes of the small band of Britisli and foreign agitators who have been attempting to carry out a Bolshevist campaign in Great Britain, by creating disturbances out of the discontent of the workers, have been almost extinguished by the extent of the improvements in the industrial conditions oi the workers, which have been effected in a few weeks of negotiations

by the trade unions Avorking along orthodox lines. At the present time of financial stress the British Government is paviing £1.2150,000 each Avcek to 1,000,000 unemployed men and women because the national industries, while changing; ove T to peace conditions, arc unnblo to provide employment to all the demobilised soldiers and the thousands of workers thrown out of employment by the cancellation of contracts for Avar equipment. Before the Avar the payment of such it largo sum to men and Avomen avlio avcfg out of work woa'd have been, regarded as a v.olnt ; ou ol I the principles of government. Under the ncAV conditions which exist to-day it 15 recognised that financial help'to the rnemployed is cheaper and better than starying fhein into open revolt.